Randy Carlos and His Orchestra- Hot Cha Cha

dscn5381This was $4.00.  It looked interesting enough.  Nice colors.  Pretty girl. What can I say?  At times, I am superficial.randy-aja-b

I could not find much on Randy Carlos other than he was from Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to New York in 1949.  There he became a band leader and was among the leading musicians in the New York Latino music scene of the day, although he did not have the staying power as some of his peers.  He was also popular with the gringos. I had a source on both these claims three weeks ago but when I went to write this, the source went dead.  Anyway, he played guitar and had a decent hit in the 1950’s with “Smoke” (Fumo). At some point (perhaps the 70’s), he moved to Florida and went into the restaurant business.  If he is still alive, he would be 83 I believe.

An Article on the Rise of Latin Music in Post War New York

This album could have been his fifth or so.  It is hard to accurately say. My guess is sometime around 1959.  Either way, this is a pretty happening album. Classic New York Latin Ballroom style.  Horns, piano, Latin percussion, the whole works. A lot of good songs, this album has. Yoda syntax I go into.  Why I know not.  dscn5382

For a sample, I was hard pressed to narrow it down so I went with “Green Light”, “Boomerang”, “Satellite USA” and “A Chevere Comae’ which features the rare vocals for this album.  Why so many songs?  Well I could not decide on any two and I figured this was some of the better music I have posted this month.the-machito-and-mario-bauza-band

Satisfactory record